The Woodlands Cemetery

Infobox nrhp
name = The Woodlands
nrhp_type = nhl


caption =
location = 4000 Woodland Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
lat_degrees = 39
lat_minutes = 56
lat_seconds = 49
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 75
long_minutes = 12
long_seconds = 11
long_direction = W
area =
built =
architect =
architecture = Georgian
added = 1967
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
refnum = 67000022 [ [http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=752&ResourceType=Building Listing at NPS] ]
mpsub =
governing_body = Woodlands Cemetery Company

The Woodlands is a National Historic Landmark on the western banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. It includes a magnificent federal style mansion, its matching carriage house and stable, and its historic garden landscape that was later developed as a rural Victorian cemetery. It was once part of Blockley Township.

Early history

The property was originally owned by the famous Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton, who in 1735 purchased 300 acres in what is now West Philadelphia. When he died in 1741, he willed his lands to his son, also named Andrew, who survived his father but six years, devising the estate to his son, William (1745–1813), who rebuilt the original house over a period of years into a 16-room manor. The new Woodlands mansion was one of the greatest domestic American architectural achievements of the 18th Century, recognized after the Revolutionary War as a leading example of English taste and presaging architectural trends in the following century.

Hamilton was an active botanist, and his estate and greenhouses grew to contain more than 10,000 different species of plants including the first specimens introduced into America of the Ginkgo, Paper Mulberry, Sycamore Maple, Ailanthus, Caucasian Zelkova, and Lombardy Poplar as well as plants grown from seeds harvested during Lewis and Clark’s expeditions--especially the Osage Orange or "Maclura pomifera". Hamilton also collected and exchanged numerous native plants with his friends and neighbors, the Bartram family of botanists from nearby Bartram's Garden.

At one point the estate covered convert|600|acre|km2 and stretched from the Schuylkill River to what is now Market Street on the north and 42nd Street on the west. It incorporated Hamilton Village.Today, more than 720 historic trees and plants have survived and are scattered throughout the property.

The cemetery

By the first quarter of the 19th Century, the West Philadelphia district was becoming a fashionable suburb. Following Hamilton's death in 1813, his heirs sold off much of the Woodlands estate for residential development. In 1840, The Woodlands Cemetery Company purchased the remaining grounds, which included the mansion, carriage house and Hamilton's extensive plantings. During the same time the "Garden" or rural cemetery was becoming a popular alternative to crowded and unhygienic urban burying grounds. Rural cemeteries were usually non-sectarian and were distinguished for their use of diverse and elaborate landscaping and architecture. An early advertisement touted their wholesome atmosphere where "... the decaying bodies of the dead may securely moulder into kindred dust, with an abundant vegetation and free winds to absorb and dissipate all noxious effluvia."

The Woodlands' isolated location, its array of exotic trees and its commanding view of the Schuykill River provided an ideal site for a rural cemetery.

As with its rival to the north, Laurel Hill Cemetery, trustees of the Woodlands spurred the cemetery's early growth by interring the remains of a celebrity, Commodore David Porter. His remains, originally buried at the Philadelphia Naval Asylum cemetery, were moved and reburied at Woodlands in 1845.

By mid-century, Woodlands was thriving and attracted many of Philadelphia's elite. [Keels, Thomas H., "Philadelphia Graveyards and Cemeteries" (Portsmouth, NH: Arcadia Press, 2003)]

Today, the Woodlands Cemetery Company is a non-profit organization. The Friends of Woodlands works with the Cemetery Company and the University City Historical Society to preserve and maintain both the mansion and the cemetery grounds. The site is also designated as The Woodlands National Recreation Trail by the National Park Service.

Notable burials

*John Joseph Abercrombie (1798–1877), Civil War general
*Timothy Shay Arthur (1809–1885), author, founder of "Arthur's Home Magazine"
*Hartman Bache (1798–1872), Civil War Union brevet brigadier general
*Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Sr. (1875–1948), author, adventurer, the man upon whom the play and film "The Happiest Millionaire" was based.
*Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr. (1897–1961), diplomat (cenotaph)
*David Bell Birney (1825–1864), Civil War Union major general
*Sylvester Bonnaffon, Jr. (1844–1922), Civil War Medal of Honor recipient
*Benjamin Harris Brewster (1816–1888), presidential cabinet secretary
*William Christian Bullitt (1891–1967)
*James Hepburn Campbell, (1820–1895), U.S. Congressman
*Joseph A. Campbell (1817–1900), businessman, founder of Campbell Soup Company
*Edward Coles (1786–1868), 2nd governor of Illinois, private secretary to presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
*Paul Philippe Cret (1876–1945), architect, designed the Woodlands' main gate
*Thomas Cripps (1840–1906), Civil War Medal of Honor recipient
*George Hampden Crosman (1799–1882), Civil War brevet major general
*Jacob Mendes Da Costa (1833–1900), surgeon
*Francis Martin Drexel (1792–1863), Philadelphia banker, and progenitor of the Drexel banking dynasty
*Anthony Joseph Drexel, (1826–1893), founder of Drexel University
*Joseph William Drexel, (1833–1888), banker, trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, trustee of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and director of the Metropolitan Opera house.
*Francis Anthony Drexel, (1824–1885), banker, father of Saint Katharine Drexel
*Thomas Eakins (1844–1916), artist
*John Ely (1816–1869), Civil War Union Brevet Major General
*Wilson Eyre (1858–1944), architect
*Clement Alexander Finley (1797–1879), Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General
*Alice Fisher (1839–1888), nursing pioneer at the former Philadelphia General Hospital
*Sidney George Fisher (1809–1871) lawyer, farmer, political essayist
*John Fraser (architect) (1825–1906), architect
*Samuel David Gross (1805–1884), medical pioneer
*James Gwyn (1828–1906), Civil War Union brevet major-general
*Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden (1829–1887), geologist
*Charles Paine Herring (1829–1889), Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General
*Edward W. Heston (1745–1824), PA state senator and Revolutionary War colonel, founder and namesake of Hestonville
*Eliza Edmunds Hewitt (1851–1920), hymn composer
*Henry Horn (1786–1862), U.S. Congressman
*Charles Jared Ingersoll (1782–1862), U.S. Congressman
*William Williams Keen (1837–1932), first U.S. brain surgeon
*John Quincy Lane (1831–1903), Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General
*James Barton Longacre (1794–1869), engraver
*Silas Weir Mitchell (1829–1914), physician and writer
*Samuel Moore (1774–1861), U.S. Congressman
*Anna Claypoole Peale (1791–1878), American miniature painter, daughter of James Peale
*Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860), artist
*Eli Kirk Price (1797–1884), lawyer, state senator
*Lewis Redner (1831–1908), organist, composer, wrote the music for Phillips Brooks's poem "O Little Town of Bethlehem"
*William Rush (1756–1833), sculptor
*John Scott (1824–1896), U.S. Senator
*Thomas Alexander Scott (1823–1881), president of the Pennsylvania Railroad
*Charles Stewart (1778–1869), naval officer
*Frank R. Stockton (1834–1902), author of "The Lady or the Tiger?" and other tales
*Edward T. Stotesbury (1849–1938), prominent partner at J.P. Morgan & Co. and its Philadelphia affiliate Drexel & Co. for over fifty-five years
*William Moseley Swain (1809–1868), journalist
*James Thompson (1806–1874), U.S. Congressman
*John Edgar Thomson (1808–1874), American civil engineer, railroad executive and industrialist
*Asa Whitney (1797–1872), railroad magnate
*Alan Wood, Jr., U.S. Congressman
*Horatio Curtis Wood (1841–1920), physician

Woodlands Heritage National Recreation Trail

The pathways and avenues of the cemetery and mansion make up the "Woodlands Heritage National Recreation Trail", part of the National Recreation Trail program.

ee also

*Mill Creek

External links

* [http://www.uchs.net/Woodlands/woodlandscemetery.html Cemetery map]
* [http://www.uchs.net/Woodlands/woodlandshome.html Woodlands home page]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=46665&CScn=Woodlands&CScntry=4&CSst=40& The Woodlands] at Find-A-Grave
* [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.pa1367 The mansion's listing, drawings, and photographs] at the Historic American Buildings Survey
* [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.pa4013 The cemetery's listing, drawings, and photographs] at the Historic American Buildings Survey
* [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.pa4028 The stable-carriage house's listing and drawings] at the Historic American Buildings Survey
* [http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/20370 The mansion's listing and images] at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings
* [http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/133197 The cemetery's listing and images] at Philadelphia Architects and Building
* [http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/13455 The cemetery gate and drive's listing and images] at Philadelphia Architects and Building

References